Board of Supervisors - July 14, 2011 Regular Meeting

The Wise County Board of Supervisors met in a Regular Meeting on Thursday, July 14, 2011 @ 6:00 PM in the Board of Supervisors meeting room located in the Wise County Courthouse. The following members were present:

A motion was made by J. H. Rivers, seconded by Virginia Meador, to approve the agenda as presented to include the additions as noted. The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE: SCHOOL FINANCING – BOND DOCUMENTS

Dan Siegel, representing Sands Anderson, and David Rose, representing Davenport & Company, reviewed the proposed resolution before the Board for Non QSCB financing for the schools.

The Board adopted a resolution approving a plan of financing presented by the County’s Financial Advisor Davenport & Company and the County’s bond counsel, Sands Anderson for financing the school projects through a combination of methods including qualified school construction bonds and lease revenue financing, a principal amount not to exceed $60,000,000.

To further this Plan of Financing, the Board requests the Wise County IDA to issue its Public Facility Lease Revenue Bond Anticipation Notes and its Public Facility Lease Revenue Bonds, such Obligations in the principal amount of $45,000,000 to pay a portion of the costs of designing, acquiring, constructing, renovating and equipping the Projects, fund a debt service reserve fund for the Bonds and provide for the payment of certain issuance costs of the Obligations.

In connection with the issuance of the bonds, the IDA would acquire a leasehold interest in the Leased Property pursuant to a Ground Lease in order to provide security for the purchasers of the IDA bonds issued to finance the school projects.

The leased property will be leased by the IDA to the County for use by the County and the School Board for public school purposes, pursuant to a Financing Lease between the IDA and the County.

The rent and other payments to be made to the IDA by the County will be sufficient to pay the debt service on the Bonds.

Mr. Siegel noted the documents that needed to be in place before the County goes before the rating agency. The approval of this resolution before the Board authorizes the basic form of documents for lease financing. One advantage to this method of financing is that it is the most flexible option.

Mr. Rose explained that the school project itself will not exceed $60M. Davenport Company has done an analysis for the County that has shown that the County can meet all of its financial obligations that are in place without having to raise the tax rate.

There was some discussion on using the PPEA process and the possibility of getting a lower rate by using this method.

Mr. Siegel stated that their experience with the PPEA process is that the financing part of the PPEA is done by the locality.

Mr. Rose explained that there are three (3) parts to the financing. The first part is the $15M that is the Qualified School Construction Bonds at 0%, which will be issued by the Virginia Public School Authority sometime in the mid fall. The second part toward the $60M is the Literary Loan Funds that the County will get when the State reinstates the program, and that will be at 2%. This is done by Literary Loan Anticipation Notes, which is a standard way that this is done in the State. Those funds also are capped with so much money per project. The third part, which is being considered by the Board this evening, is the remaining balance which is $31M. There are two choices to get the $31M. One is to go through the IDA and issue these lease revenue bonds, which is the avenue the Board has the ability to do. The second option is through the Virginia Public School Authority. By approving this resolution before the Board, the County will put itself in the position that they can take either of these two options. He further explained that after the meetings with the rating agencies and getting their feedback, he and Mr. Siegel will come back before the Board with their recommendation.

IN RE: RESOLUTION-BOND DOCUMENTS FOR NON QSCB FINANCING

A motion was made by J. H. Rivers, seconded by Bob Adkins, to adopt the resolution approving the bond documents for Non QSCB financing for the public school facilities projects in the amount of $45,000,000 and requests the IDA to issue its Public Facility Lease Revenue Bond Anticipation Notes and its Public Facility Lease Revenue Bonds to pay for a portion of the Wise County School Projects. The motion was unanimously approved.

RESOLUTION # 2011

(Said resolution is on file in the County Administrator’s Office)

IN RE: ROADS AND HIGHWAYS

None

IN RE: PUBLIC HEARING REGIONAL WATER SUPPLY PLAN AND DROUGHT ORDINANCE

A public hearing was duly advertised for this date to receive citizens’ comments regarding the adoption of a proposed Cumberland Plateau/LENOWISCO/Mount Rogers Regional Water Supply Plan and the adoption of a related Drought Ordinance for Wise County.

Walter Crouse spoke in support of the proposed Regional Water Supply Plan and the proposed Drought Ordinance for Wise County.

There being no further comments, the public hearing was closed.

PUBLIC EXPRESSION

Nancy Davis and Walter Crouse spoke during public expression, voicing their concerns regarding needs within our County as well as concerns on the national level.

There being no further comments, the public expression period was closed at 6:45 PM.

IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA

A motion was made by Ronnie Shortt, seconded by Bob Adkins, to approve the consent agenda as follows:

A motion was made by Ronnie Shortt, seconded by Fred Luntsford, to approve the Drought Ordinance for Wise County which authorizes the County Administrator or his designee, in coordination and cooperation with the Executive Director of the Wise County PSA, to declare a water emergency in the County restricting the use of water provided by the Wise County PSA in any area of the County as presented. The motion was unanimously approved.

ORDINANCE # 2011

(Said ordinance is on file in the County Administrator’s Office)

IN RE: RESOLUTION – REGIONAL WATER SUPPLY PLAN

There was some discussion on the proposed Regional Water Supply Plan regarding some updates that have been made to the Plan. It was noted that LENOWISCO would be aware of any changes to the Plan that would affect the County.

Supervisor Luntsford stated that the towns are being asked by LENOWISCO to adopt the same resolution.

Attorney Mullins explained that the towns that have adopted similar resolutions are not being required, if they are compatible, to adopt this same resolution. She said the information she has is that the towns have no objections to County having its Drought Ordinance with regard to the Regional Water Supply Plan.

Supervisor Meador was concerned that Scott County did not approve the plan because of changes.

Attorney Mullins explained that she was not aware of any changes that would affect the County and if there were changes, the County would have been advised.

Supervisor Shortt stated that Scott County has recently had several water projects in different communities, and their concern could be to make sure these changes have been noted in the proposed Plan before adopting the plan.

There being no further comments a motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to approve the Resolution approving the Regional Water Supply Plan.

Finance Administrator Cox explained that this change in the CIP Plan is due to the resolution adopted by the Board in June to fund the school projects.

A motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by J. H. Rivers, to approve the amendment to the CIP Plan for FY 2012 – 2016 as presented. The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE: PUMP & HAUL PERMIT – COEBURN FIRE DEPARTMENT

A motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to approve the request from the Coeburn Fire Department to be added to the County’s Pump and Haul Permit for the purpose of adding a restroom facility to the Coeburn Fire Department Training Center since there are no available septic lines to connect with near the property. The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE: MECC ACCESS ROAD

A motion was made by Virginia Meador, seconded by J. H. Rivers, to authorize for advertisement of an RFP for Engineering Design for the MECC access road. The motion was unanimously approved

Administrator Scott asked Supervisor Rivers from district three to serve on an Advisory Committee to review the RFP’s responses along with Finance Administrator David Cox, County Attorney Karen Mullins, himself and one or more individuals from MECC.

IN RE: RESOLUTION – ST PAUL 100TH BIRTHDAY

A motion was made by Virginia Meador, seconded by J. H. Rivers, to approve the resolution honoring the Town of St. Paul on its 100th birthday. The motion was unanimously approved.

RESOLUTION # 2011

(Said resolution is on file in the County Administrator’s Office)

IN RE: BUDGET AMENDMENT – SCHOOL FINANCING

A motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to set a public hearing on August 4, 2011 @ 6:00 PM on a proposed budget amendment related to school financing. The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE: QSCB BONDS – SCHOOL FINANCING –SET PUBLIC HEARING

A motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by J. H. Rivers, to set a public hearing on August 4, 2011 @ 6:00 PM concerning the intention of the Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution authorizing the issuance of a not to exceed $15,000,000 general obligation school bond of the County of Wise for financing capital projects for public school purposes and to be sold to the Virginia Public School Authority. The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE: RESOLUTION – FAIRGROUNDS IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

A motion was made by Ronnie Shortt, seconded by Bob Adkins, to approve the resolution authorizing the submission of an application to the Virginia Tobacco Commission for funding for the Wise County Fairgrounds Improvement Project. The motion was unanimously approved.

RESOLUTION # 2011

(Said resolution is on file in the County Administrator’s Office)

IN RE: CHANGE OF MEETING DATE

A motion was made by Ronnie Shortt, seconded by Bob Adkins, to change the Thursday, August 11, 2011 Board meeting date to Wednesday, August 10, 2011 @ 6:00 PM. The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE: POLLING PLACE CHANGES

County Attorney Mullins explained to the Board that the ordinance regarding the polling precincts has the Appalachia High School Gym as the polling place for District One in Appalachia, and in District Four it has the Wise County Christian School as the polling place for Clinch Valley residents. The Clinch Valley precinct will only require a name change. However, the Appalachia precinct will require a different polling place if arrangements cannot be made to use the Appalachia High School Gym. Ms. Mullins explained the procedure for making a polling place change.

Supervisor Luntsford stated that it has been his intention to ask the Board to allow a portion of the high school facility, the gym portion, to remain open to be used as a community center which would require some financial assistance from the County to make that possible. In the meantime, he said the Appalachia Civic Center would be sufficient for a polling site if it meets the 2009 Uniform Statewide Building Code requirements.

There was some discussion on changes that would need to be made to confine heat, water, sewer, and electricity to the gym portion of the facility for the upcoming election if another site is not available.

After further discussion, a motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Fred Luntsford, to set a public hearing for Thursday, August 4, 2011 @ 6:00 PM to receive citizens comments regarding name and address change to the polling place for the Clinch Valley Precinct in District Four, specifically changing Wise County Christian School to Wise County Justice Center, and a polling place change for the Appalachia Precinct from Appalachia High School Gym to the Appalachia Civic Center in District One. The motion was unanimously approved.

There were several comments made regarding the future use of the empty school facilities.

IN RE: APPOINTMENT – LENOWISCO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

A motion was made by Ronnie Shortt, seconded by Fred Luntsford, to re-appoint Bob Dorton to the LENOWISCO Board of Directors for a term of three (3) years. The motion was unanimously approved.

Chairman Kilgore stated that she would like to postpone the appointment for District Four until next month at which time Mr. Robbins, District Four Supervisor, will be present.

A motion was made by J. H. Rivers, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to postpone the District Four appointment to the LENOWISCO Board of Directors until the August meeting. The motion was unanimously approved.

RECESS

A recess was taken at 7:40 PM

The meeting reconvened at 7:50 PM

IN RE: CLOSED SESSION

A motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to go into closed session to discuss the following items as permitted by the Code of Virginia:

Section 2.2-3711(A)(6) Investing of public funds

Section 2.2-3711(A)(1) Personnel

The motion was unanimously approved.

After closed session, a motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Fred Luntsford, to reconvene the regular meeting. The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE: RESOLUTION – CLOSED SESSION

Secretary Underwood read the certification for closed meeting.

A motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Fred Luntsford, to approve the resolution verifying matters discussed while in closed session. The motion was unanimously approved by roll call vote.

RESOLUTION # 2011

(Said resolution is on file in the County Administrator’s Office)

IN RE: PURCHASE OF PROPERTY

A motion was made by Bob Adkins, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to direct the County Attorney to proceed with purchase of undisclosed property as discussed. The motion was unanimously approved.

BOARD COMMENTS

There were brief comments from Board members.

Supervisor Rivers asked that all Board members be given a copy of the County’s inflation forecast on the current budget as requested by Supervisor Robbins. He also asked for information on how the proposed E-911 road name “Champions Avenue” was determined.

ADJOURN

A motion was made by Ronnie Shortt, seconded by Fred Luntsford, to adjourn the meeting at 8:26 PM. The motion was unanimously approved.